Three districts to vote for supervisor in March election
Three incumbent Calaveras County supervisors are facing one-on-one challengers in the March 3 election. In District 1, incumbent Gary Tofanelli is running against retired business consultant Sharon Romano. In
District 2, incumbent John “Jack” Garamendi is running against homemaker Laree Garza. In District 4, incumbent Dennis Mills is running against Angels Camp City Councilmember and current appointed mayor Amanda Folendorf.
The three supervisor races are the only Calaveras County positions contested. Judgeships in the Calaveras County Superior Court, occupied by David Sanders and Timothy Healy, respectively, are uncontested.
District 1: Circle XX, San Andreas, Valley Springs, Campo Seco, La Contenta, Camanche, Burson and Wallace
Gary Tofanelli,
66 of Burson, is in his second, non-consecutive term as Calaveras County District 1 Supervisor.
“I have experience. You can check my track record on how I vote,” he said. “I try to represent my county and my constituents to the best of my ability based on the information I have in front of me.”
Central to his platform is unfinished business: the expansion of the Highway 4 corridor between Copperopolis and Angels Camp and making permanent a yearly
program to clear Cosgrove Creek in Valley Springs.
“I don’t see it being completed at least by the end of this term,” said.
Tofanelli voted against the October 2019 commercial cannabis cultivation ordinance, characterizing it as too much and too soon, particularly in terms of the allowed acreage size and the amount of farms countywide.
“If the regulations are correct and I have some input on them where I feel they are correct it would be feasible for me to vote on something, but not in the current condition that its in,” he said.
Sharon Romano,
74, of San Andreas described herself as active, energetic and receptive.
“My big thing is listening and taking in everybody’s ideas and thoughts into consideration,” she said. “My slogan is listen respectfully, act responsibly, so let’s talk.”
Romano has already made a run for public office, losing among three candidates during the March 2016 primary election for District 1 supervisor.
Still, she remains unfazed on a diverse election platform to promote new business and investment in Calaveras County, supporting the education system integrating community plans into the approved General Plan update.
Romano said she approves of commercial cannabis cultivation with regulations promoting local growers and funneling county profits to law enforcement to eradicate the non-compliant operations. She said she uses a topical medical cannabis cream for arthritis in her hands.
Speaking of her opponent, she added, “he doesn’t listen, he’s notorious for not returning phone calls or emails and I’m just the opposite of that. I think we’re all in this together.”
District 2: Mokelumne Hill, Paloma, West Point, Wilseyville, Glencoe, Rail Road Flat, Sheep Ranch, Mountain Ranch, and Calaveritas
Jack Garamendi is completing his first term as District 2 supervisor.
He asserted the successful passage of the October
2019 ordinance and continuing Butte Fire recovery efforts as chief among his achievements.
“I’m seeking reelection because there’s work still to be done. We’ve made great progress in our district over the last several years and I’m trying to continue that,” said Garamendi, 49 of Paloma.
Underwriting those those policy points is the continued funding of public safety organizations — the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office and county fire departments — for emergency preparedness and illegal marijuana eradication. He also said he is seeking to aid economic development through county investment in the telecommunications grid and roads.
Garamendi called the October 2019 ordinance, which he voted for and endorsed, a “thoughtful plan,” which was intended to fix the failures of the 2016 urgency ordinance.
“The work is not done, but I feel we are moving in the right direction and we are getting things done. We have momentum and we have to keep that momentum going.”
Laree Garza has never held public office, but said her ingratiation in the community poised her to reverse what she called a periodic deterioration of the quality of life in Calaveras County.
“I decided to run because this is my home, where I live and where I see things,” said Garza, 52, of Rail Road Flat. “I’m not a politician, I’m your neighbor.”
Her concerns are multifarious: skyrocketing homeowners insurance premiums, vegetation management and rising property taxes.
Garza’s policy on commercial cannabis cultivation is also not “cut and dry,” she said, noting her opposition to large-scale production and to the October 2019 ordinance.
“I believe that the marijuana is just being forced through without doing the proper research,” she said. “I do not believe it was done properly.”
She said she was positioned as an outsider and not a typical politician.
“I actually care about the people and my neighbors and my community, I’ll go the extra mile to get things done, it’s about the people, their families, and their future in Calaveras County.”
District 4: Angels Camp, Altaville, Salt Spring Valley and Copperopolis
Dennis Mills, 69 of Vallecito, said his first term as District 4 supervisor taught him the complexities of effective governance and also cemented notable relationships at the national, state and local level.
“As you get more age, experience and time, you start to gain a perspective about how decisions affect the larger picture,” Mills said. “It helps to keep a balanced perspective.”
Mills positioned his platform squarely on the side of development: seeing through the construction of 1,600 homes in Copperopolis, constructing road access from O’byrnes Ferry Road to New Melones Reservoir to promote tourism and encouraging insurance companies to provide coverage.
Mills voted against the October 2019 ordinance, citing what he said were disregards about the cost for legal counsel in an ongoing suit against related to taxes and fees from the emergency ordinance and the cost to remediate eradicated sites. He said maintenance of clean water and the environment was also central to his opposition.
“These kind of things need to get discussed before you start a project, not after you’ve approved it,” he said.
Amanda Folendorf, who received widespread national attention as the first deaf female mayor when she was appointed to the position two years ago, described her platform as “United Calaveras.”
“It goes back to making a better future for Calaveras,” she said. “I believe I can bring the county together to work on shared goals, to work on reasonable solutions and to bring an oriented approach.”
Folendorf was reelected to her second four-year term to the Angels Camp City Council in 2018 and was re-appointed to her second one-year term as mayor in January 2019.
If elected, she said she hoped to turn the conversation away from marijuana and onto the development of the Copperopolis community plan, a balance of a structural deficit and encouragement of infrastructure investment.
Folendorf didn’t stake a position on commercial cannabis cultivation, but noted her belief the issue was already dealt with.
“I’m not going to change the decision of the current board. I think the decision has been made and I think we need to move on to the next issues,” she said.